Now that this rollercoaster season has ended in mid-table mediocrity, what are your thoughts on what went right, what went wrong, who and what were the good, the bad and the ugly from this season?

To be honest, I’m glad the club still exists given the financial problems, and we achieved a reasonable finish after a very inconsistent season.

It would be good, if the club is able to say anything, to understand the likely timescales for Robbo and Kells returning, and indeed confirmation that they will return. I think their situations had a big impact on us not getting a play off place, but credit to the players and interim team for turning things around to a degree.

We struggled when McCann came in as he tried to change the formation and playing style, but once we reverted to 4-2-3-1 and not always playing it out from the back, we got our act together. Giving Toddy a run of games worked very well.

The highlight was the cup win against County, whilst I think we have the nucleus of a decent squad for next season, with those we have under contract. Of last year’s signings, Devine and Deas could become a very good pairing, Duffy could allow Carson back into midfield, and Allardice can become even more influential.

Mackay, MacGregor and Harper have established themselves and, whilst still learning the game, have played important roles and hopefully will improve even more next season. Along with Toddy, Mackay’s recent scoring form has been impressive.

So where did it go wrong? The off field issues and all the postponements cost us a higher finish in my opinion, but I look at four games where we messed up:

losing 2-1 at Alloa after taking an early lead;

drawing 2-2 at Morton after being 2-1 up playing against 10 men;

losing 1-0 at home to Morton;

losing 1-0 at home to Queen of the South.

There are probably other games equally as significant but those stand out for me, and are probably the difference between 5th and 2nd.

Our injury position didn’t help either, with the absence of Carson in particular for so long a significant impact.

However, if we look back at posts last summer, this season’s priority was to remain in business and we have achieved that, and I look forward optimistically to next season. The league will be competitive again, and many teams will have much bigger budgets than us, but I see us competing at the top end of the table, and hopefully maybe even getting promotion.

When it comes to voting for player of the season, I will pick between Carson and Toddy, with Mackay getting my vote for young player.

Roll on the first league game on 31 July!

 

Edited April 24, 20215 yr by Robert

11 draws out of 26 is where it went wrong. Look out for no 12 on Friday as a point keeps Ayr up.

Dan has improved immeasurably this season and clubs will be looking at him. I have to admit I thought Roddy was a better player but getting a regular start has brought Dan on to the point he wants to nutmeg all the big name players. Think it was Andy Halliday this week 😂

Edited April 24, 20215 yr by TheMantis

Some might be either shocked or critical of me but I certainly don't lay the blame at either manager, instead putting the blame on certain (but not all) players that haven't performed this season and a short part towards the board for not backing the manager(s) until it was too late. Scott Allan was an inspired signing but why wait until March to sign him, I'm certain Hibs would have given him to us in January if we enquired. 

So that leads me to these 2 questions below:-

 

: Who should we retain and, if we can, release or move on?

: What realistic signings would you like to see come in next season, to replace the players moving on?

I'm again not going to be critical here but I would move on players that haven't featured much this past season, like has happened with Toshney (it was his choice though). 

 

As for new signings, imho we should be looking at young players either from Scottish Premiership clubs or ones that are available on free transfers, or perhaps ones from the lower leagues that are available. 

 

Now, I get that these guys don't come cheap but imho it's time the board backed the manager if at all possible so that we can make a push for the title next season. 

 

Before any new signings, it's imperative that we tie down as many players as possible so that the summer rebuild is small, imho we have the basis of a good squad, we just need 2-3 more in to bolster the team. 

29 minutes ago, CaleyTennis said:

Scott Allan was an inspired signing but why wait until March to sign him, I'm certain Hibs would have given him to us in January if we enquired. 

Show me the evidence?

1 hour ago, CaleyTennis said:

Scott Allan was an inspired signing

I disagree.  He hasn't made any major errors, and hasn't made any minor errors that have had consequences.  That alone may set him apart from most of our squad.

But he certainly hasn't won matches for us, or enabled us to reach a level which we wouldn't otherwise have obtained.

To me, he looks overweight.  Either that, or he has massive chest development.

Worth a gamble, but I don't think he has made much difference.

I agree. He has a great eye for a pass, but the execution did not always work.

I think we were better with him, but Sutherland had done ok on that role before he came in.

It was a positive move by the club to get us to the play offs and so nearly worked, so I am not being critical of the move.

It was good to see Lyall today. He looks to have potential. Worth a loan next season. 

Looks like we won't be getting a penny from Christie's transfer...

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/sport/football/7017686/celtic-christie-free-transfer-contract-detail/amp/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter&__twitter_impression=true

15 hours ago, tm4tj said:

Show me the evidence?

His through ball with his back to play to put Deas 1v1 on Tuesday against Dundee. Absolutely different class. His situation wouldn’t have changed from January to March. 

1 hour ago, Jack Waddington said:

Looks like we won't be getting a penny from Christie's transfer...

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/sport/football/7017686/celtic-christie-free-transfer-contract-detail/amp/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter&__twitter_impression=true

“Former Aberdeen man” aye, right.

Being a free agent means he can choose his next club without celtic interference and choose his contractual conditions. 

Or even better ask the uber rich club to pay the estimate of the inverness fee they would have received had celtic organised themselves or even add caley into next sell on clause.

It would be a complete anathema to current transfer climate but it is possible....

 

3 hours ago, Jack Waddington said:

Looks like we won't be getting a penny from Christie's transfer...

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/sport/football/7017686/celtic-christie-free-transfer-contract-detail/amp/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter&__twitter_impression=true

I hope Christie is sensational at the Euros, for Scotland.

Firstly, a hat trick at Wembley against Engurland to hump them. No more needs said.

Hopefully, that will get him a new and improved Celtic contract. 

Then when Frank Lampard leaves Celtic after 2 seasons as manager, he takes him to West Ham with him for £20 million. 

Simples 😀👍

The positives, that we survived.

The negatives, the ridiculous number of points we conceded from winning positions without which we would have been running Hearts close for the title itself.

I think its good to be disappointed as at one stage it was more fear of relegation. It has been a strange season with ups and downs and the downs have contributed to missing out but as people have said we have a decent core and will look to try and improve the squad adequately. There will be no standout team next season and we have to be optimistic and take our medicine until the start of next season and go again. 

I think despite continual turnover in playing staff over the past 3 years we have remained roughly in the same position which is not quite good enough.

Unfortunately. 

In the early stages of the season we got ourselves into a reasonable position and things looked bright with Kai Kennedy starting to rip teams apart. But then we had that long miserable run over the winter months - 1 win in 13 matches, that is absolute relegation form, for half the season. Fixture congestion, issues with the management team, losing Kennedy, whatever, that was when our promotion hopes were battered.

The arrival of McCann brought no new manager bounce and we had some absolutely terrible results and performances under him before that amazing winning run that only started when Billy Dodds arrived. This put us right back in contention for the playoffs at the right end of the league. Sadly when it came to crunch time we then failed to win any of our last 3 matches, tricky though they were, whilst our rivals got back to winning ways.

Lots of factors at play this season, but one simplistic way of looking at it is that we only took 2 points from Alloa, the part timers adrift at the bottom of the league. 
 

Positives - financial survival, a victory over County that will be remembered for many years,  seeing Allardyce, Dan Mackay, and Todorov establishing themselves as first team regulars.

Negatives - lack of contribution from senior players like Storey, Vincent, Keatings and sadly the injury prone Doran. We really missed Tremarco. And the games against Alloa....

On 4/24/2021 at 7:19 PM, TheMantis said:

...he wants to nutmeg all the big name players. Think it was Andy Halliday this week 😂

Andy Halliday...big name.

Aye, ok .😏

1 hour ago, Satan said:

Andy Halliday...big name.

Aye, ok .😏

Aye, hence the smiley. 

If only we could have played Raith and Arbroath every week. Strange how we took seven points off a team in second place and only two of a team sitting bottom.

 

P              W            D             L             F              A             Pts

Alloa Athletic           3              0              2              1              4              5              2

Arbroath                  3              2              1              0              5              2              7

Ayr Utd                   2              1              1              0              3              1              4

Dundee                    3              0              2              1              4              5              2

Dunfermline            3              1              1              1              3              4              4

Hearts                      3              0              1              2              2              6              1

Morton                    3              1              1              1              6              4              4                                             

Raith Rovers            3              2              1              0              3              0              7

Queen of the South  3              1              1              1              4              2              4

4 hours ago, Gringo said:

If only we could have played Raith and Arbroath every week. Strange how we took seven points off a team in second place and only two of a team sitting bottom.

 

P              W            D             L             F              A             Pts

Alloa Athletic           3              0              2              1              4              5              2

Arbroath                  3              2              1              0              5              2              7

Ayr Utd                   2              1              1              0              3              1              4

Dundee                    3              0              2              1              4              5              2

Dunfermline            3              1              1              1              3              4              4

Hearts                      3              0              1              2              2              6              1

Morton                    3              1              1              1              6              4              4                                             

Raith Rovers            3              2              1              0              3              0              7

Queen of the South  3              1              1              1              4              2              4

Part of the charm of the game is these sort of anomalies it throws up.

Just one of the very many reasons why the European Super league was such a bad idea.

One of the charms of the ultra competitive Championship!

 

8 hours ago, CaleyCanary said:

One of the charms of the ultra competitive Championship!

 

And an excellent example of why I hate the SPL so much. 

28 minutes ago, Gringo said:

And an excellent example of why I hate the SPL so much. 

Me too. If it was financially viable for us to remain in the Championship and to enjoy the odd cup run I would be content with that.

Sadly, it is not and never likely to be which is why getting it right next season and getting out of the Championship is so important.

On 4/26/2021 at 11:08 AM, Satan said:

I think despite continual turnover in playing staff over the past 3 years we have remained roughly in the same position which is not quite good enough.

Unfortunately. 

I think the high turnover has played a big part, especially with a small squad. However we seem to have the nucleus of a really decent team, with three youngsters coming on strongly (Daniel in particular). One or two players like Toddy need to be signed up for next season, and one of either McHattie or Brad (because retaining players with known strengths/weaknesses is probably easier than searching for new). We need a decent winger signed, then we decide on either Aaron or Miles to be retained

Not getting into the promotion play-offs is a blow, but would be a huge ask to go all the way, from 3rd/4th place.....If we are going to get out of this league I think we need to win it.

Can we finish the season playing the long delayed Challenge Cup final [ideally after Raith have had a knackering and unsuccessful play-off campaign]?

Given that we had quite a few injuries, then lots of game cancellations, Managerial issues and we were looking over our shoulder at one stage at possible relegation play-offs, I am pretty satisfied as I think we have a proper springboard for next season. I have enjoyed our season much more than my other team Palace's [which has redined the meanings of dire and under-performing]. Given the backdrop of a horrible year because of the pandemic, I'm really excited at the prospect of seeing Caley live again next season.

I just wonder who our manager will be.

Edited April 29, 20215 yr by Eagle4Caley

Looks like Partick are coming up. 5 up on Falkirk after 72 minutes and they can’t be caught. Cove, Airdrie and Falkirk (currently in that order) will be in the play offs with whoever ends up 9th tomorrow in the Championship. 

Edited April 29, 20215 yr by Robert

Not really big on the idea of the thought of the name instead of the badge...

Imo it looks too much like those fan shirts you find on eBay...